Abstract

Male chimpanzees are generally considered to make fairly even use of their home range, while in contrast, females show more restricted ranging patterns, spending much of their time in small fragments (core areas) of the community's home range. Restricted ranging of (non-cycling) females may relate to either ensuring access to good food resources, or reducing the risk of inter-community infanticide, while males may range widely to search for potential mates and contest inter-community territorial borders. Careful reading of published accounts suggests, however, that sex differences in ranging patterns may not be so extreme. In the Gombe National Park, Tanzania, where females have readily identifiable core areas, males are also described as having core areas, and in the Kibale National Park, Uganda, males as well as females showed a 'clumped' pattern of range use. Detailed analysis of the ranging patterns of male chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest, Uganda, provides further support for this view.